Limits:
- There is a query limit of 1000 unique (different) image requests per viewer per day.
- URLs are restricted to 2048 characters.

Here are some self-explanatory examples:

Using geo-coordinates:http://maps.google.com/maps/api/staticmap?path=color:0x0000ff|weight:5|49.584486,8.462219|49.441343,8.462219|49.384161,8.654230&size=400x400&sensor=false

Using city names:http://maps.google.com/maps/api/staticmap?path=color:0x0000ff|weight:5|Stuttgart|Mannheim|Bad Homburg|Frankfurt|Würzburg|Stuttgart&size=500x200&sensor=false

This is how you would use it on your website just use it like a local image:<img src="http://maps.google.com/maps/api/staticmap?path=color:0x0000ff|weight:5|Stuttgart|Mannheim|Bad Homburg|Frankfurt|Würzburg|Stuttgart&size=500x200&sensor=false" alt="my roundtrip" />

Pretty slick!

In case you need to extract geocoordinates, there are lots of online browser tools available, just click on a spot and copy-paste the coordinates into your static maps-URL: